414 ~ Sunday, May 5, 1991 - North Shore News

FASHION

A new spin on an old yarn

THE RESURGENCE of
handmade woven fabrics
this year can be traced to a
surprising variety of sources
and inspirations.

Carol
Crenna

ote

FASHION STATEMENTS .

In a season highly reminiscent
of the 60s, and having a new
awareness of the environment, an
interest in natural materials, and a
concern for individuality in dress-
ing, these one-of-a-kind fabrics
are timely.

There is a new ‘‘generation’’ of
weaves, with style and versatility.
No longer just sold at farmer's
markets and festival fairs, these
handmade works of art have
become high fashion.

“It is a much more refined and
sophisticated type of weaving.
Emphasis is on elegance in hand
woven fabrics, both in their sur-
face texture and the desizns within
them. A greater choice of yarns,
with finer rayons and silks, and
more recently fine mereno wool, is
responsible for the trend. Also,
looms have become much more
advanced,’’ explains Mary
Bentley, one of the North Shore’s
most highly respected hand
weavers, .

Bentley continues, ‘‘The public
does not realize how sophisticated
it has become, and how long it
takes to do, especially if we
choose to dye our own yarns.”’

**One scarf must take at least 20
hours to make,”’ states Elizabeth
Bell, another North Shore weaver.

‘*They are a labor of love. 1 am
concerned that textiles aren’t given
the proper attention, but instead
are pushed beneath the attention
given to the clothing design. They
will last a lifetime, as heirlooms.
These woven pieces are as artistic
as something that you would hang
on a wall. But, you wouldn’t want
to, because they are meant to be
touched.”

Gaye Hansen, a North Van-
couver resident with a masters
degree in weaving, explains that
the actual weaving process is not
difficult and takes very little time
to do. It is the threading of the
loom, plus the designing and the
finishing that takes hours to do.

“*The actual weaving is only
about 10% of the operation. It
takes eight to 10 hours to thread a
loom, but you can make several
scarves from one long warp
threaded loom.””

The loom is threaded with warp
yarns (threads) that extend the
length of the loom. The shuttle
carrying the weft yarns, which go
across, from side to side, are then
sent back and forth under and
over the warp yarns many times
by the weaver. Often, the weft
threads are simply thrown across
the loom, and the designs come
through the raising and lowering
of alternate warp threads by a
simple mechanism on the loom.
The result is the same effect you
get when weaving a wicker or reed
basket.

A KIMONO jacket, camisole and skirt set handwoven by weaver Anita Morse sells for $425. Morse’s

designs are on display at Circle Crait en Granville Island and at inge’s in Whistler Village.

Hand weavers neither follow
trends nor work from an artistic
sense of vagueness. They base
their designs on something more
secure than the vagaries of
seasonal fashion, and more
wearable than many abstract cre-
ations made by designer-artists.

“! try to make handwoven
garments that are wearable, not
costumes. Women pay dearly for
these pieces because they want
something that looks different,
but that is also comfortable. We
don’t have to be that fashion con-
scious. We stick to classic colors
because the owners of these pieces
want to keep them for a long
time,”’ says North Vancouver
weaver Anita Morse.

“T can make four or five pieces
of clothing at one time with the
same colors of warp yarns, but it

is costly to change the colors on
the loom more often than that, if
another color is preferred. Also,
you run out of hand-dyed yarns in
the same color quite frequently so
if you find a color that is very
popular it can’t be reproduced
immediately. You have to be flex-
ible,’’ she says.

All these weavers have a com-
mon interest as members of a
non-profit association called the
Greater Vancouver Weavers and
Spinners Guild.

A long-time member of the
guild, West Vancouver resident
Gertrude Griffin states that the
association has been operating
since 1939, She describes a recent
history of the industry in Canada,
which led to the formation of the
Weavers and Spinners Guild.

‘*Weaving was revived in

Canada during the Depression,
when the government supplied
loom plans to husbands across
Canada. They would make the
looms so that the wives would be
able to keep busy making pro-
ducts to sell. They also sent weav-
ing teachers to all of the areas fol-

lowing the introduction of the

looms. We kept weaving during
the war also, but yarn was harder
to obtain then. Weaving has
grown in popularity recently, but
it still isn’t as popular as it was in
the 60s. It simply was fashionable
to weave then.””

Griffin adds that although most
large looms are imported from the
east or the U.S., many women in
the guild still make their own
looms.

Bentley, who has a studio in her
Blueridge area home, creates a

Crenna’s
quick
snips

T-SHIRTS SPEAK-OUT ... Em-
porio Armani, a firm under de-
signer Giorgio Armani, celebrated
its first anniversary in its Toronto
location by creating a limited edi-
tion Speak-Out T-shirt to be sold
at the store.

4& The Jacob
lingerie line now
includes daywear,

sleeping
ensembles and
_loungewear. FF

The words, ‘‘if { could save the
earth, I would...’’ are emblazoned
on the shirt, and each purchaser
receives a fabric marker to write
his or her own thoughts on the
subject directly onto their T-shirt.

Celebrities including Richard

Gere, Inxs and Alana Miles have
also put their own environmental
messages on T-shirts, some of
which were delivered to, and auc-
tioned off at, the Armani store
celebration in April. A portion of
the proceeds went to The
Evergreen Foundation.
SACOB’S LINGERIE ... Bouti-
que Jacob Inc. is expanding its
lingerie departments in the current
stores which sell a small selection
of intimate apparel as accessories
to the clothing. In some stores the
men’s wear department has been
replaced with lingerie as a result
of decreased sales in the men’s
clothing.

The Jacob lingerie Hne now in-
cludes daywear, sleeping ensem-
bles and loungewear. Prices range
from $6 for cotton underwear to
$200 for silk or novelty items. The
firm has had great success with its
lingerie in the past.

Also focusing on lingerie
because of a growing market is
Fairweather stores. They are cur-
rently negotiating to open several
Godiva lingerie outlets soon,
beginning with a location in
Pacific Centre. Prices are prom-
ised to be as reasonable as the
chain’s other merchandise.

variety of shawls and classically
shaped clothing using mostly silk
yarns. She has recently introduced
fine wool, which has gained new
popularity, into her line and says
they are wonderful to work with
because they don’t crease.

Bentley prefers strong colors to
neutrals, and says the scarves and
shawls she is currently making
feature a lot of purple, fuchsias,
gold and greens. Both metallic
and nubby textured novelty yarns
are used sparingly in her designs.
She dyes all of her own yarns us-
ing acid dyes,

She is soon getting a new com-
puterized jioom, similar to the
ones used by the very successful
Vancouver weaver Zonda Nellis.

Nellis, who is well known for

See Weavers page 13

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